COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Citizen Science Assists a Novel Measurement of Mass-Loss Rates and Extends the Galactic Census of Runaway Massive Stars

合作研究：公民科学协助质量损失率的新测量并扩大了失控大质量恒星的银河普查

• 批准号: 1412845
• 负责人: Henry Kobulnicky
• 金额: $ 25.05万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-15 至 2020-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1412845&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Citizen; Science; Assists

Stars with masses much greater than that of our Sun are the engines that drive the evolution of our galaxy, mixing the interstellar gas and dust with their winds, radiation, and eventually their violent deaths in supernova explosions. The rate at which these massive stars lose matter is an important quantity in determining how these stars evolve near the ends of their lives. There are, however, large uncertainties in the measurements of mass-loss rate for these stars with major discrepancies between theoretical and observational results. The goal of this project is to measure mass loss from massive stars through a unique program that involves "citizen science" called Zooniverse. This project will use the Zooniverse citizen science program to enable thousands of non-scientists to comb through recently completed Spitzer and WISE space telescope surveys in search of bow shock nebulae. These bow shock nebulae are indicative of runaway massive stars ejected from their stellar birthplaces. It is expected that the citizen scientists will identify approximately 300 massive stars through their bow shock structure. These identifications will be followed up by spectroscopic measurements with the 2.3m Wyoming Infrared Observatory (WIRO) in order to derive mass-loss rates, which will result in a statistically compelling sample of objects for comparison with theoretical models.Both PIs are heavily involved in the education and training of graduate and undergraduate students, and the proposed work will further strengthen the students' exposure to astronomical research. The observations with WIRO telescope will foster mutually beneficial exchanges between the urban, predominantly Hispanic undergraduate institution Cal Poly Pomona and the rural University of Wyoming through hands-on observational astronomy and data analysis. The Cal Poly Pomona proposal in this collaboration is a Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) project, which will offer numerous opportunities to train new scientists with a strong emphasis on recruiting students from underrepresented groups into STEM fields. This project will also initiate a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program at WIRO that will pair secondary science teachers with University of Wyoming faculty and summer Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) program students.

质量大得多的恒星是驱动我们银河发展的发动机，将星际气体和灰尘与风，辐射以及最终在超新星爆炸中剧烈死亡混合在一起。 这些巨大的恒星丢失物质的速度是确定这些恒星如何在其生命末端发展的重要数量。 但是，在这些恒星的质量损失率测量中存在很大的不确定性，并且在理论和观察结果之间存在重大差异。 该项目的目的是通过涉及“公民科学”的独特计划来衡量大型恒星的大规模损失。 该项目将利用“ Zooniverse公民科学”计划，使成千上万的非科学家能够通过最近完成的Spitzer和Wise太空望远镜调查来梳理，以寻求弓形冲击星云。 这些弓休克星云表明从其出色的出生地弹出巨大的巨星。 预计公民科学家将通过其弓冲击结构来识别大约300颗大型恒星。 这些识别将在230万个怀俄明州红外天文台（WIRO）中进行光谱测量，以得出大规模损失率，这将导致与理论模型进行统计学上令人信服的对象样本，以与理论模型进行比较。任何一个PIS与理论模型进行比较。 Wiro望远镜的观察结果将通过动手的观察天文学和数据分析来促进城市，主要是西班牙裔本科机构Cal Poly Pomona和怀俄明州农村大学之间的互惠交流。 在这项合作中的Cal Poly Pomona提案是一项针对本科机构（RUI）项目的研究，该项目将为培训新科学家提供众多机会，重点是将来自代表性不足的团体的学生招募到STEM领域。 该项目还将在Wiro的教师（RET）计划中启动研究经验，该计划将与怀俄明大学的教师和本科生（REU）课程的学生相结合。